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English Pages 256 [272] Year 2017
CLOCKS
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CL 0 U
T HE
D S
D
A RC HITECTU RE
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F
G U
ESC HER
N E W A R D E N
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House of Seven Screens, Glen dale, CA (Escher GuneWardena Architecture) 2017, Alex Slade
House on Two Towers (from east), Pasadena, CA (Escher GuneWardena Architecture) 2016, Alex Slade
House on S1x Legs, Los Angeles, CA (Escher GuneWardena Architecture) 2017, Alex Slade
Sola/Wnght House, Los Angeles, CA (Escher GuneWardena Architecture) 2017, Alex Slade
Sola/Wnght House, Los Angeles, CA (Escher GuneWardena Architecture) 2017, Alex Slade
LILI AN
P FA F F, editor
With contributions by SABINE FRANK RAVI
ECKMANN
ESCHER
GUNEWARDENA
JOCELYN BARBARA
GIBBS LAMPRECHT
NICHOLAS PAULETTE ALEX
SINGLE Y
SLADE
MARTINO MIMI
OLSBERG
ST
ZEIGER
BIRKHAUSER BASEL
ERLI
CLO CKS
CLO UDS
A N D
T HE
ARC HITE CTURE
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E S C HE R
F
G U N E
W
AR D E
N
A
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
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FOREWORD
M A K I N G OF P L A C E
JOC ELYN G I B B S 18 8
AT M O S P H E R E S , E X H I B I T I O N S , A N D C A T O P T R I C B OX E S
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I N T R O D U CT I O N
PAU LETTE S I N GLEY
M A R T I N O ST I E R L I 198
ELECTRIC SUN I
202 ELECTRIC SUN Ill
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206 HERMES PETIT H
INTERVIEW BY LILIAN PFAFF WITH F R A N K E S C H E R A N D R A V I G U N E WA R D E N A
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P A R T 1: C L O C K S A N D C L O U D S
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C O M P L E T E W O R KS
CLOUDS-REDCAT
R E L AT I N G T O A RT
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T H E ART O F E X H I B I T I O N
SABI NE ECKMANN R E A D I N G T H E PAST 222
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H I S T O R Y A N D P R E S E RVA T I O N :
BLUM
&
POE GALLERY I
224 INSTALLATION DESIGN FOR
F O U R C O N V E R S AT I O N S W I T H T H E P A S T
MIKE KELLEY'S PETTING ZOO
B A R B A R A L A M P R EC H T
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BLUM
&
POE GALLERY 11
234 EXHIBITION DESIGN FOR 72
CHEMOSPHERE RESTORATION
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TYRE HOUSE RESTORATION
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STEPHEN PRINA: AS HE REMEMBERED IT
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EAMES HOUSE CONSERVATION
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PAUL/NE: AN OPERA
BETWEEN EARTH AND HEAVEN: THE ARCHITECTURE OF JOHN LAUTNER 238 EXHIBITION DESIGN FOR LIVING FLOWERS: IKEBANA AND CONTEMPORARY ART 242 EXHIBITION DESIGN FOR
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SHARON LOCKHART'S LUNCH BREAK
I N T E R V I E W BY L I L I A N P F A F F W I T H F R A N K E S C H E R A N D R A V I G U N E WA R D E N A
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PART 11: B E G I N N I N G S
EXHIBITION DESIGN FOR SHARON LOCKHART
A N D C O L L A B O R AT I O N S
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NOA ESHKOL
250 SCENOGRAPHY FOR SHARON LOCKHART'S FOUR EXERCISES IN ESHKOL-WACHMAN MOVEMENT NOTATION
SPACES FOR LIVI N G
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A G A l N ST N A T U R E
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MIMI ZEIGER
I NTERVIEW BY L I L I A N PFAFF WITH F R A N K E S C H E R A N D R A V I G U N E WA R D E N A PART IV: MOVE M E N T A N D S T I L L N E S S
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HOLLYWOOD HILLS HOUSE
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HOUSE ON TWO TOWERS
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SO LA/WRIG HT HOUSE
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PEARSON/TRENT HOUSE
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HOUSE WITH FIVE CORNERS
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HOUSE OF SEVEN SCREENS
I N T E R V I E W BY L I L I A N P F A F F W I T H F R A N K E S C H E R A N D R A V I G U N E WA R D E N A P A R T I ll : T H E T H E N A N D T H E N O W
L A N D S C A P E S O F R E F L E CT I O N
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S P A C E B E C O M E S T lM E : L A N D S C A P E S O F R E F L E CT I O N A N D R E C O N C I L I A T I O N
N I CHOLAS O L S B ERG 178
ST. MICHAEL'S
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WOODLAND NATURE RETREAT
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A C K N OW L E D G E M E N T S S E L E C T E D P U B L I C AT I O N S A B OU T T H E C O N T R I BUTORS I MAGE CREDITS
FOREWORD
JOC ELYN G I BBS
In Clocks and Clouds, the exhibition and the catalog, Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena offer us design happenings that reveal their processes of dreamy investigation on the way to precise materialization, and back again. The Art, Design & Architecture Museum at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is a particularly suitable site for Escher GuneWardena's generous and boundary-blurring engagement with art, craft, architecture, and its histories. Our mission is to engage with contemporary practice and to reflect in new ways on Southern California's extraordinary architectural history, much of which is documented in our Architecture and Design Collection.
Some of Escher GuneWardena's projects have drawn directly from this collection. For Stephen Prina's As He Remembered
lt, Frank and Ravi created cabinet drawings of the built-in furniture from the Harris and Hiler Houses by Rudolph M. Schindler. The result was Prina's installation of disembodied and strangely emotional cupboards and tables painted
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an intense pink. For their opera Pauline, Frank and Ravi drew upon Rudolph and Pauline Schindler's correspondence for the libretto. Their design and staging at the Schindlers' Kings Road House resulted in one of the most moving architectural encounters I have experienced.
They have paid their debt to other figures from Southern California's Modernist period through careful restorations (the Eames House and Lautner's Chemosphere), as well as through creative re-readings of this heavy legacy in their own residential and commercial commissions.
Escher GuneWardena's exciting and broad range of projects expands the notion of what architects do. The modest and collaborative spirit of their practice allows them to pay homage to history, help manifest the visions of contemporary artists, and create their own completely new poetic works.
Santa Barbara, June 2017
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The work of Escher GuneWardena is not easily identified by a style or a formal repertoire, but rather characterized by a design ethic and methodology. Is architecture concerned with spelling out-in form and space-pre-existing abstract concepts? Or is it about developing a concept and design strategy grounded in the specific conditions and circumstances unique to each project? If given the choice between these two philosophically different approaches, Escher GuneWardena would emphatically opt for the latter. Their architecture, whether it deals with the design and construction of houses and buildings, the preservation of modern landmarks, the design of interiors and exhibitions, or in their collaboration with contemporary artists, is always informed by an ethic of problem solving, and for finding an adequate architectural and spatial expression to any given task. Needless to say, the work of Escher GuneWardena at the same time is too rich and complex to be merely reduced to this single aspect: their architecture is not simply determined by circumstance and possibilities, but rather informed by them. Leafing through the projects, it is evident that their work is governed by a set of recurring themes and principles: an aesthetic predilection for Minimalism; a strong interest in the expression of construction and the quality of materials; a genuine understanding of Eastern spiritual practices (as well as their ensuing architecturaljspatial dimensions); and a keen interest in and affinity to contemporary artistic production as well as an ongoing exchange of ideas with artists, who are among their primary sources of inspiration and account for many fruitful collaborations.
While there is thus clearly not physical or material determinism at work in the architecture of Escher GuneWardena, these aspects are readily acknowledged not only as fundamental to their work, but also as a source for critical inquiry and productive investigation. Architecture, in their understanding, is not an abstract play with forms and a superimposition of such onto the world, but is conceptually and spatially developed directly out of a serious and thorough questioning of a specific given situation. This commitment to and belief in the process of
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construction and in the act of building as a source of knowledge is rare within the context of theory-based American architectural production, but it is very congruent with an increased interest in contemporary architectural theory in issues such as process and craft, and in line with the (re-)discovery that the building and the object are indeed at the core of architectural production.
The immediate context within which Escher GuneWardena operate is Southern California and the greater Los Angeles area. In many ways, their architecture is firmly rooted within this specific local context and its history. There is a keen interest in exploring the possibilities and limitations of the unique landscape, its topography and ecology-be it natural, such as in the canyons, hills, and plains,
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or be it man-made, such as in the highways (the British architectural historian Reyner Banham has famously described Los Angeles as the architecture of four ecologies). These explorations found conspicuous expression in the work of Escher GuneWardena, not least in houses perched over difficult, sloping terrain, or elevating themselves over impossibly steep hills in order to open up dramatic views framing the surrounding landscape (the framing of the view being another underlying theme of West Coast Modernism, famously theorized by Richard Neutra and his concept of " biorealism"). In line with this obsession, there is, in Southern California architecture, an interest in integrating the landscape into the architec tural design, and in general in blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior spaces, which we can find in the work of Escher GuneWardena as well. Moreover, they have taken on the preservation of LA's mid-century Modernism as a major aspect of their architectural production, be it in the case of the restoration of the Eames House in Pacific Palisades or in their role as leading experts on the work of that quintessential LA architect, John Lautner, all of which further grounds their work and thinking within the specific cultural and architectural context of their city. lt is particularly felicitous for their work that they are intimately familiar with both the legacy of European Modernism-which became a driving force in
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Los Angeles early on through the contributions of noted emigres such as Rudolph Schindler or Richard Neutra-and Japanese architecture and philosophy, which have historically played a seminal role in the genesis of a specific West Coast
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Modernism. Furthermore, Escher GuneWardena have theorized about the lack of sophisticated construction methods in California as a basic given in their architectural thinking, and one that poses not only limitations, but also aesthetic opportunities-in the sense of (willed) imperfection, improvisation, and assemblage. With all of the above in mind, it is important to maintain that the work of Escher GuneWardena is fundamentally different from that of the so-called LA School and its primary interest in (de)form(ation). The skepticism shared by Frank and Ravi of this deconstructivist attitude perhaps speaks to their respective training outside the powerhouse of the 1980s SCI-Arc, but at the same time it relates back to the conviction that architecture is born out of an engagement with the here and now as opposed to the superimposition of an abstract and autonomous set of principles and forms.
In trying to define the place of Escher GuneWardena's design ethic, we might also want to take into account the title they have chosen for this volume. lt is derived from a famous lecture by the eminent Austrian-British philosopher of science Karl Popper, the contents and relevance of which for architecture Frank and Ravi discuss in one of their interviews on the following pages. In sum, whereas the "clock" stands metaphorically for a physical system of absolute precision and predictability, the "cloud" is a much more open, unpredictable system that allows for indeterminacy. As Frank and Ravi argue, while architecture encompasses many components-measurements, proportions, static laws, and so on-that would qualify as "clocks/' what makes architecture an art is its "cloudiness/' which takes into account the possibility of imperfection and chance; things, in other words, that fall outside the absolute control of the architect and his "project." lt is interesting to note that in the history of the philosophy of science, one of the great dissenters of the doctrine of "physical determinism"-which basically held that all "clouds" were essentially clocks, i.e. cou Id be described as systems organized according to underlying rules and laws-was the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce, whose position Popper, in the aforementioned essay, characterized as follows: " Though in common with all other physicists of his time he believed that the world was a clock that worked according to Newtonian laws, he rejected
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the belief that this clock, or any other, was perfect down to the smallest detail. Peirce concluded that there was a certain looseness or imperfection in all clocks, and that this allowed an element of chance to enter. Thus Peirce conjectured that the world was not only ruled by the strict Newtonian laws, but that it was also at the same time ruled by laws of chance, or of randomness, or of disorder... Peirce was the first post-Newtonian physicist and philosopher who thus dared to adopt the view that to some degree a// clocks are c/ouds."1 lt is of course the worldview that was adopted widely (at least in physics) after the establishment of quantum physics and chaos theory, but it is probably safe to say that an acknowledgment of indeterminacy and chance as characteristic of any physical system has been
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much less popular in the realm of architecture. We should keep in mind that Peirce, who pioneered a physics of "cloudiness/' was also a member of The Metaphysical Club and the father of philosophical pragmatism. Though the term is often abused, the concept quintessentially stands for the belief that the meaning of a concept is determined by the practical consequences and effects of an action or deed, and not by abstract and fixed principles. Pragmatism is a theory of praxis, and it privileges the experimental over the ideal. lt is such a pragmatic understanding of architecture that underlies the thinking and work of Escher GuneWardena. The question is not: what is the essence of an object material, or concept but rather: how does it perform in the world? lt is this understanding of the discipline of architecture as praxis that they have expressed in one of the interviews: " Both of our educations reflect something that we are interested in in our work and that is essentially how things are made: How are things put together? How do you build? How do you use material? What can you coax out of a method of construction or a material? To us these things are much more interesting than approaching a project from a purely theoretical or purely formal basis. We spend an enormous amount of time thinking about how to manipulate a construction process, or how to manipulate an existing construction product."2 Notes
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Karl R. Popper, "Of Clocks and Clouds," Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1973), pp. 212-213. 2
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Interview by Lilian Pfaff with Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena, Part 11: Beginnings and Collaborations, in
this publication, p. 102.
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I NTERVIEW BY L I L I A N PFAFF W I T H F R A N K E S C H E R A N D R A V I G U N E WA R D E N A
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P A R T 1: C L O C K S A N D C L O U D S
LILIAN PFAFF
you cannot and shouldn't control. This
combinations, or constellations of sound.
and Clouds" characterize your work?
How does the title "Clocks
idea of the accidental has always been
it's not even necessarily about contrast
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part of our thinking. Setting up a logical
ing, but about the order breaking down,
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FRANK ESCHER
order but simultaneously allowing for
becoming loose, and re-emerging
A few times when we
have talked or thought about our work,
the accidental form a very dynamic
going back and forth between the two.
m eta-topics have come up that call into
pairing in our minds, and construct a
A good mental image of this is watching
question what in the art of architecture
useful bracket to the whole world in
shadows from a row of colum ns, for example, and how sometimes the
is measurable and what is not measu r
between. There is a famous lecture by
able. What are things you can define
Karl Popper ("Of Clouds and Clocks")
shadows get blu rred by passing clouds
clearly and what are things you cannot?
where he talks about his earlier scientific
and then reappear.
We have always been interested in
and philosophical thinking in relation to
developing an internal logic, or a system
these opposites: determinism, which
FE
of constraints for a project, in order to
comes out of rational thinking, and, on
is a duality that exists in many other cultural contexts.
The idea of "order" and "chance"
provide it with a clear and precise
the other hand, chance. While he argues
intellectual structure. lt can be as banal
that most things, systems, or phenome
as a system of dimensions or propor
na fall somewhere in between, he gives
RG
tions, but that is what is measurable to
us a conceptual model to visualize this.
conflicting ideas, the desire to establish
us. And it is something that can be set
And between these two seemingly
"order" and the acceptance of the
up to have its own logic or lead to its
RAVI GU NEWARDENA There
own conclusions. On the other hand, we
beautiful piece of music by the composer
is also a
"accidental" or accepting that many things cannot be forced to comply with
have always accepted the idea of
Gyorgy Ligeti, who bases his piece on
order, we try to develop our work. Each
chance or things that are accidental,
Popper's essay. Here is translated in
of our projects, we believe, navigates
that we cannot control and don't want to
musical terms what we were just talking
between these two polar positions.
control. For example, how a material
about: the juxtaposition of very precise
ages or is transformed through human
sound structures against what he
FE
interaction, or through processes that
describes as clouds-im precise
of the internal structure of thought. This
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We use "complexity" as an indicator z
RG The idea of perfection, or the striving for perfection, versus the acceptance of imperfection is one example. While it's simplistic, an analogy between Western and Eastern philosophies comes to mind. That these imperfections happen in life and are part of life, sometimes can be beautiful. With such imperfections, there are certain things that cannot be
Thermoplastic membrane detail, Sola/Wright House, Los Angeles, 2000-2008
measured or categorized with a clear logic. And that is chance. While this aesthetic concept exists in many Asian
thought, however, might be expressed
cultures, the Japanese concept of
in an extremely simple sentence. And it
wabi-sabi clarifies this idea: imperfection
is this tension, as well as the absolute
marks the uniqueness of an object,
calmness, that is set up between the
reminding you of impermanence, and
extreme complexity of this "thought"
incompleteness. These ideas are related
and the extreme simplicity of its formal
to Buddhist characteristics of existence:
Traces (accidental forms) of a match burning.
manifestation that we are interested in
impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and
Alvaro Perdices, From The Hustler@CAKE,
our work. Our work is not about "form,"
"non-self" (the unsubstantial nature of
New York. Doe# 7,1997
per se, but about an attempt to render
defining self). Interestingly, this is linked
You can either contort that structure to
imperceptible "form," the shaping of
to the notion of the hollowness or
somehow allow this tree to happen,
form, the hand of the architect.
unsubstantiality of form itself. A Pali
or you can interrupt the rhythm of this
Buddhist scripture describes form as
structure to acknowledge the tree.
RG And while we both have educational
being merely a lump of foam-nothing
backgrounds from technically oriented
but bubbles on closer inspection.
schools, we believe that what turns
FE it's a pair of ideas one can discover in many of our projects, where imperfection
architecture into art are its ephemeral
FE lt is also worth noting that you
can be seen in how a material or surface
and intangible qualities, that which can
can only perceive perfection because
appears at the end of a project, or how
not be learned or quantified. Ultimately,
imperfection exists and vice versa.
certain existing imperfections are sought
art is often created by letting go of
We embrace this by accepting both
out by us, framed and made visible. I think
scientific processes and just allowing
as potentially equal in value.
something to happen without calcu
there are a few examples of this, where the violations of perfection become part
lation-much like creating good music
RG That said, to conceive of creating
of the overall environment. Existing con
ultimately depends on being free from
imperfection would be contrived and
ditions of imperfection are framed so
the awareness of technique.
illogical. There are times when we
that they become apparent and legible
develop a certain structure, but some
to the viewer and very much part of
thing gets in its way. For example, a tree
the overall project. I am thinking of the
exists where a building needs to be.
wrinkles on the skin of the Sola/Wright
LP For example?
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House (see p. 128), the concrete at the
sophisticated construction methods in
House with Five Corners (see p. 146),
California. Although you can do very
or the concrete on the House on Two
precise building here, it costs a fortune.
Towers (Jamie Residence, see p. 122).
Other architects before us- Rudolph
And certainly all of the projects where
Schindler, or Frank Gehry in the first part
this idea of the cloud is central and
of his career, embraced the fact that
pushed more actively.
local construction here encompasses a
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certain level of imperfection, improvising, RG We are not the first people to think
and putting things together that you
about that. There are a number of artists
wouldn't find in Central Europe. Some
whose work we have followed or whose
times the guy who is pouring the concrete
work inspires us, who have worked with
is just not equipped to make the most
the concept of chance-one of them is
precise, perfect concrete. But rather
John Cage. The idea of the accident is
than fighting against these limitations,
central to much of his work, which came
we search for a way to incorporate them
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from his interest in Zen philosophy
into the conceptual underpinning of the
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and exploring other ideas of order or
Wood-concrete detail in the House with Five
lack of such, which was then gradually
Corners, Los Angeles,
2009-2012
incorporated into his work over a long period.
contrast the imperfection of the concrete with the perfection of the woodworking.
FE I don' t think that would be our
Walls or built-in furniture are very
approach to arriving at imperfection.
precisely made so that they contrast
RG There is certainly involvement in all
exist in the concrete work. I think the
LP I think this is really interesting-the
idea of creating imperfections. But what
project. For example, oftentimes we
deliberately with the imperfections that
is the difference between accidents that
of our projects from the people who
House with Five Corners is a perfect
happen and accidents you create?
are going to be using it. We're often
example of that.
informed by something that we come FE That is a good question-however,
across in their philosophy, their practice,
LP Do you teach your students some
I don' t think the term "create imperfec
or their daily rituals. Those are certainly
thing like that?
tion" is accurate, it's more about allowing
acknowledged. For example, in the
imperfection to happen. In a way it is
Franciscan chapel (St. Michael's, see
FE We certainly talk about it, but this
an act of creation, but it's a passive act
p. 178), the placement of the windows
may be one of the aspects of making
where something is allowed to develop
was determined by the ritual of the
a building that are beyond what can
on its own.
friars' daily offices, the times at which
be taught.
they pray in the space. LP Imperfection could come about when
RG lt is something that you can expose
you work with people who influence
FE But the people most involved in
someone to as an approach. But we
your projects. What about participatory
allowing imperfection to happen, I would
don' t want to impose this on a student
projects, which would automatically
say are the builders. To some degree it,
and say, this is how you should make
create imperfection?
has to do with not having access to more
your decisions.
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FE
Instead we point out that it is a way
by Douglas Fogle around two artists
of looking at things that exists in many
Paul Thek and Mario Merz. Mario Merz
other disciplines. lt exists in visual art,
introduced the Fibonacci numbering
in music ...
sequence into the exhibition. The numbering sequence is the mathematical
RO
... in poetry.
basis of many things, from genetics to economic theories. In his case it
Mathematrcal patterns found rn soap bubbles
ultimately implied infinity and endless
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l
'
'
A tiled plane Wlth rntegral squares based on the
ness. We used the Fibonacci numbers
FE
to design and proportion every interven
order to more elusive expressions of
tion we made in the exhibition. Every
order was present in the exhibition,
wall width, height, and door opening
from the precision of the architectural
was based on these numerical propor
proportions and design elements
tions. This imposed an invisible order
previously mentioned, to tables that
onto the entire exhibition of ...
were based on cloud forms. Originally we proposed a large inflatable cloud to
Fibonacci sequence RO FE
I think that is a very im portant
So this range from very recognizable
.. .four and a half acres (18,210 square
cover the central courtyard where
meters) of exhibition space.
certain performances would take place.
poetry is often this violation of rules.
FE
RO The
the use of the Fibonacci numbering
but on the ground were stage platforms
RO
sequence in this exhibition probably
with dimensions based on the golden
best expresses this arc from order to
ratio that formed cloud-like patterns.
example, because what makes prose
... changing the cadence or order
of speech.
In a way, out of all of our projects,
cloud cover did not happen,
disorder. People felt it and people FE
com mented on it. lt is the basis for many
FE
write a poem.
recognizable systems of order, like the
designing the scenography for the
golden ratio used in Classical architec
REDCAT Gala 2014 (see p. 210). We
RO
ture, for instance. But if you continue
created this large looming cloud that
Which is why a computer cannot
Not yet ... although I think a computer
can be used to create that kind of
Another project about clouds was
delving into this numerical system, it
accidental form. lt certainly has been
leads to fractal patterns and structuring
used in electronic music, for exam pie,
systems for many things where the
where you set up repeating loops and
order is not so visibly apparent. Like
they get manipu lated by computer
the patterns in clouds ...
chance. RO FE
The design of the Carnegie lnterna
...or soap bubbles. it's kind of
amazing to discover that, when broken
tional 2008 was a project that really
down, the simplicity of Fibonacci
embraced the entire span, from order
numbers is similar to the efficient
Alumrnum tube structure for Clouds-REDCAT,
to disorder. The exhibition was curated
structure of soap bubbles.
Los Angeles, 2014
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hovered in the space-a very formal
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element.
RG We started out by trying to create
the cloud out of perfect spheres of different sizes. After figuring out the logistics, we decided to use a loosely shaped metal structure, as one would make an ikebana arrangement. There are similar examples of bamboo structures
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made by ikebana masters.
Escher GuneWardena, Vastu Purusha Mandata, 2009
FE Ravi built the entire structure. lt was
civilization was trying to understand and
very much created through its making
categorize the entire universe. lt was
and came out of experiments in his
a time when Linnaeus developed his
ikebana practice. We had access to the
biological classification system, when
Norton Family Office work yard-a huge
everyone was trying to classify every
outdoor space. Ravi was there for days
thing. And in the middle of this fever
with a troop of helpers forming these
to rationally understand the whole world,
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Escher GuneWardena, mandala studies, 2013
structures. We then brought them into
arises the extreme irrationality of follies
R E DCAT and hung them to make this
this big counterweight, a fashion state
FE The whole folly exhibition consisted
enormous cloud formation.
ment. I think it's a more na'lve interpreta
of two different parts-one was an
tion of the same balance between order
historic survey involving a great amount
RG The R E DCAT lighting designers then
and disorder. With follies they were
of research on follies, their references
lit it to create a continuously changing
actually creating, deliberately, disorder
and precedents. And the other part was
light show during the performance.
these pieces of architectural scenery
developing a folly of our own that made
that are set into artificial landscapes.
reference to the origins of some of the
LP What themes or interests did you
Underlying the idea of these gardens
first follies, which themselves come out of
explore when curating the Folly
that are meant to represent nature is of
interpretations or misinterpretations of...
The View from Nowhere exhibition at
course the fact that they are completely
the Museum of Contemporary Art,
man-made.
RG ... pagodas. In the West they often
copied the external forms of pagodas,
Los Angeles ( MOCA) in 2009-2010? RG They were attempts at instantly
while missing out on the point that the
RG Our interest in history and the idea
creating history or transporting you to
pagoda was a connection between
of building something that technically
other time periods and geographic
heaven and earth, an axis mundi.
locations. This is when Chinoiserie
Original pagodas had a central column,
has no purpose.
becomes en vogue a nd recreating
which in follies were done away with,
FE Follies became popular in the Age of
historic monuments from Greece, Rome,
turning that space into a pavilion for
Enlightenment at a time when Western
and further.
playing cards or having tea. So we
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looked at the origin of these very essential
RG A mandala is basically a chart, a
forms, the pagoda, the stupa, and back
microcosm of the universe, and ascribed
further to the mandala, which became
to points on this chart are certain
the basis for our own exploration of a
attributes. Some mandalas describe
folly. This resulted in our creating a three
where your head and where your feet
dimensional mandala.
should lie, providing an orientation for your life's activities. There are various
FE If you look at the genealogy of it, you
types and scales of mandalas (from small
have these follies that are based on
to large) to help orient your house, temple,
misreading existing forms like pagodas,
or village. it's an ordering system.
Francois Perrin, Miami Air Hotel, 2006, shown in Folly: The View from Nowhere, MOCA Pacific
Design Center, 2009
themselves based on earlier forms of stupas, which were based on mandalas.
LP So how did you transform this into
So we traced it back to one of its origins,
architecture?
FE No, this is something we did subse
and then used the mandala as a basis for
quent to the exhibition. The structure
our own exploration of a folly.
F E We used it to create a structure that
we built at MOCA was very much a
had no apparent purpose other than
continuation of the overall geometry and
L P Maybe you could elaborate on what
maybe a symbolic one.
patterns of the existing space. There
RG And there are historical ways in
open space that no one ever accesses,
a mandala is?
was a section of the building with a tall
which a mandala was given three
which became the site of the folly. So
dimensional form. The central chakra
our intervention was a specific response
(energy point), for example, had great
to our reading of that space.
symbolic significance and was given correspondingly proportionate form.
RG Although to arrive at that particular
There might be a tower at the center
form we made a great deal of study
of the temple, which occupied that
models.
central chakra, or it might be in a significant open space where a certain
FE The intervention also had an elaborate
ritual takes place-a fire, bathing, or
system of proportions. From the height
dance ritual, and so forth. So we took
and width of each step to the thickness
one type of mandala and manipulated it
of the wall and height of the tower,
into various three-dimensional forms,
all of these elements of the folly were in
by marking different quadrants to high
relation to each other proportionally.
light their significance. We explored
Likewise, the proportions of the folly
numerous possibilities.
were in relation to the dimensions of
LP But did you show these different
ture that surrounded it. So there was a
explorations?
subtle ordering system that we used
the space it occupied and the architec
Escher GuneWardena, Folly: The View from Nowhere, MOCA Pacific Design Center, 2009
to develop this intervention and it was
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not some-thing that we necessarily
building. We were fascinated with this
words and speech. But I don' t think it is
wanted to make apparent. lt was a kind
great vertical space that nobody ever
possible to think purely with words. Ravi
of under-lying secret order.
experiences, and we began exploring
and I collect images. We use images in
what that building was about and how
our work not only as mnemonic devices,
LP The MOCA space at the Pacific Design
its upper area could be used. This led
we use them to illustrate a thought, an
Center itself is almost a folly.
to the idea of building the folly and
atmosphere, as analogies, as tools to
explaining what follies were historically.
examine an idea.
0 0
FE Yes it is. And we discussed the Pacific
Design Center pavilion as being a folly.
F E And again to discover that there had
So our structure was a folly within a folly.
been generations of architects who had been fascinated by this idea of the folly...
LP So how did you come up with the
idea to do a folly show?
RG ... including very recently. 0
F E We covered everything from 18th
0
century English follies by Sir William
0
Chambers, Dan Graham's Octagon for Munster, Frank Gehry's The Prison
(shaped like a fish), and other contem porary works by David Adjaye, Francois Perrin, and Thomas Schutte.
LP On another subject, can you talk
about your use of images? RG We used to start our lectures by
simply showing images that spoke to us, that were reference materials, images that we all keep in our personal visual libraries.
Claude Collins-Stracensky, Proposal for Perceptual Vessel, 2008-2009, shown in Folly: The View from
Nowhere, MOCA Pacific Design Center, 2009
FE We think "in images." This contradicts
Fritz Mauthner's argument who quotes the 19th-century German dramatist Grabbe as follows " Nur was lhr in Worte
RG lt evolved from a discussion with
ki:innt fassen, ki:innt lhr denken." (Only
MOCA senior curator Philipp Kaiser and
what you can put in words, can you
wanting to do something site-specific
conceive of/think), which further states
in reaction to the Pacific Design Center
that concepts must be identical with
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